Railways Minister Ghulam Ahmed Bilour on Thursday told the National Assembly that Pakistan Railways (PR) had suffered a loss of Rs 1,313.24 million in 2010-11 due to discontinued train services. Responding to a question during the question-answer hour, Bilour said Pakistan State Oil (PSO) was providing diesel of Rs 1 billion on credit to the Railways, but the ministry was now trying to push the credit limit to Rs 2 billion. To another question on illegal occupation of Railways’ land, the minister said the government was now reclaiming the land by moving the illegal occupants under the directions of the Supreme Court.
However, only those pieces of land would be vacated which were occupied after 1985, Bilour added. The minister said the corruption cases in the Railways had been sent to the National Accountability Bureau (NAB), and the ministry was also trying to curb the thefts of diesel and train tickets. He said the former government in 2000 had purchased locomotives without including spare parts in the procurement deal, and consequently a number of locomotives could not be repaired in the following years.
